eReaderJoy: thoughts and news from Eolake Stobblehouse about the wonderful new platform of tablets and e-reading devices. Some say, one of the biggest advances to reading since Gutenberg (Okay, I said that).

"Blowing on the embers of the ebook conflagration"

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Veird Kindle subscriptions

I just took out Kindle subscriptions to Asimov's Science Fiction and Technology Review. Here's the weird part: it turns out I had already signed up for Technology Review last month, but I'd forgotten! Why? Because for some odd reason, you can only read Kindle magazines on one device, so it had not turned up on my iPad. It gets stranger: you may read those magazine on an Android device, but not an iPad... and you may read it on a Kindle 3, but not on a Kindle DX!
Like Goldmember said: "isn't it vierd?"

I wrote to Amazon, and the closest I got to an explanation was:"Currently, periodicals such as newspapers and magazines are only available on Kindle and the Kindle for Android app."

So, not much further in my understanding then.
It's clear there can be no technical reason, the DX can read what the K3 can read, and the iPad app can read what the Android app can read.

It's no big deal. I just dislike unexplained oddities.

Update: J said...I wondering if the issue is not just financial... essentially that Apple will charge 30% of the subscription fee and will require that the IOS apps offer in-app purchases using the Apple in-app purchase system? This seems to be the direction Apple is going and will enforce by end of June.

eolake said...
Oh, that's a good point. Yes, I could well believe that's the issue.

This really sucks. We don't need more fragmentation like this, it can only harm the healthy development of a sound subscription market.

2 comments:

I wondering if the issue is not just financial... essentially that Apple will charge 30% of the subscription fee and will require that the IOS apps offer in-app purchases using the Apple in-app purchase system? This seems to be the direction Apple is going and will enforce by end of June? Perhaps Amazon is holding back?

"Eolake's musings about the world of ereaders/tablets are bolstered by his enthusiasm for well-designed technology and his insatiable search for hardware and software that improves the experience of interacting with a text."